Earthquake hits Melbourne's east

Chris Hingston

The magnitude 2.7 earth tremor hit Melbourne's east with the epicentre believed to have been near Ferntree Gully.

A Kallista resident said she felt her house shake violently just before 4pm and that the tremor had left a crack in the ceiling of one room.

The woman, a native of Christchurch and no stranger to earthquakes, said: "It sounded like a steam train coming through. It didn't go for long but at the end there was a loud bang, which made me jump.''

Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen said the quake lasted a few seconds just before 4pm and was a magnitude 2.7-2.8 tremor.

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He said the quake’s epicentre occurred 25km east of Melbourne, and residents within 20km of the tremor could have felt or heard the quake.

“A lot of people felt it or heard it,” he said.

“Melbourne and the vicinity has several earthquakes every year, it is not uncommon,” he said.

Metro Cinemas Boronia cinema manager Ellie Schouten told The Age their audiences thought it was all part of the film experience.

"Our audience watching Walking with Dinosaurs at Metro Cinemas Boronia thought it was part of the movie presentation," Ms Schouten said.

Reader Renato told The Age the tremor was felt in Boronia.

"Felt it run under the floor and sounded like a freight train in Boronia," he said.

Malak Olliak said it felt "like a bomb exploded and the ground shook one or two seconds!".

Jaye Fletcher described the tremor as "frightening" and said their house was rumbling in Croydon North.

"I actually ran out of our two-storey house as the rumbling sound was rapidly gaining in intensity and I was almost certain that there was going to be an explosion from an electrical fault.

"As I reached the door the rumbling decreased and then … crunch sounds from overhead. Very frightening."

Emma Newton said her building in Croydon shook and "we thought something has blown up or someone had driven into our building", she said.

"It was huge and felt much bigger than the reported 2.7 ... scary stuff."